At Stanford University, researchers have developed prototypes of ERC-20R and ERC-721R tokens for reversible Ethereum transactions. Blockchain researcher Kylie Wang announced this breakthrough, achieved after months of effort with colleagues Dan Boneh and Qinchen Wang.
The new token standards enable users to dispute transactions within three days, potentially restoring the original state. If funds are stolen, users can request asset freezes, with decentralized judges deciding the outcome. Both parties can present evidence for a fair ruling.
For NFTs, judges can easily block the current holder’s account. However, reversing cryptocurrency transactions is more complex due to potential asset splitting and mixing. To address this, researchers created an algorithm for default freezing to track and lock stolen funds, ensuring enough assets are blocked to cover the stolen amount.
This innovation raises questions about Ethereum’s decentralization but aims to enhance security in the blockchain ecosystem.
